Newsletter sixty eight

[charlie_cochrane]

I think we had sleet this morning. Winter is here...

News

At least the monthly dose of that old codger Beare and his desperate old jokes will warm the cockles of our hearts.

And that loquacious young codger, Jonty Stewart, has been giving a character interview. Those of you who prefer Orlando be warned. Jonty is in mischievous form.

Now, do you ever run across something you wrote and think, “Oh! Did I produce that? It’s rather good. If incredibly daft...” There is a link here to a whole collection of daftness in the form of requested flashfics and limericks featuring Jonty and Orlando, my werewolves, my actor ladies, etc. Enjoy! (You have been warned.)

Inspiration:


Not only are war graves incredibly moving, the inscription at the bottom of this one fascinates me. What story is there to tell?

Comments

The Rest of the Story

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Vincent's full name was Charles George Vincent; he was born in Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight and enlisted in Newport, Isle of Wight in the 8th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment--the Isle of Wight Rifles.

Vincent died at sea--probably of illness, as there's no mention of wounds. His battalion would have been between battles; it landed at Moudros on August 6, 1915 and at Suvla Bay three days later, leaving Gallipoli on December 3, 1915. It arrived in Alexandria, Egypt on December 19, 1915. Somewhere along the way, he seems to have fallen ill; he might even have been en route home when he died. That's probably why his tombstone reads, "He TRIED to do his duty"; he wasn't killed in battle and didn't die of injuries. Indeed, it's most probable that he died of dysentary; there was a huge outbreak of that in Gallipoli. Any civilian might have died the same way.

Whoever C.G.'s comrade Jack was, he seems to have survived WWI. Only two men from the Hampshire Regiment who had a possible first name of John (one was designated "J.E.") died after January 9, 1916 AND were buried in Netley Military Cemetery--and both were from different battalions than Vincent.

(I figured that if Jack was called Jack on C.G's gravestone, that might have been because he was local. Everyone already knew his last name. Hence my checking Netley Military Cemetery.)

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

P.S. Thanks to his soldier number being on Commonwealth War Graves, I was able to look Vincent up on "Soldiers Who Died in the Great War" on findmypast.co.uk. That's where I learned that he'd died at sea, where his battalion was, and all the rest of it.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Jack was his dog?

I know, I know. :D It's not very romantic.

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

What terrific information about CGV - I need to subscribe to a site like that.

That final line on the headstone has slashy possibilities, (and it would be very daring to state it so clearly) but then I wondered if Jack was a dog!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

A bomb sniffing spaniel has just been awarded a posthumous Dicken Medal for services in Afghanistan. I wonder if he's mentioned on his handler's headstone?

I am saving Beare's latest for a dreary moment. He always makes me smile. Or rather grimace.

I loved Jonty's interview, though I think there's a typo in it....

7 - What one word best describes you?
Irrepressible.

Shouldn't that be indefatigable? ;)